Guide for Maintenance & Remedial Actions on Contaminated
Insulation
INTRODUCTION In regions of high contamination the
Achilles heel of lines and outdoor substations is often its
external insulation. It is particularly susceptible to failure
if proper attention has not been given to its design,
monitoring, and maintenance. Regular maintenance and the
application of remedial measures may be critical to ensure
the system meets its performance targets. This may involve
pure maintenance measures such as insulator cleaning or
the application of performance enhancing measures such as
hydrophobic coatings, shed extenders or booster sheds.
In extreme cases insulator replacement or upgrading of
insulation with different profiles, leakage distances or
insulator types (e.g., polymer insulators (NCI) or resistive
glaze) may be necessary.
It is often difficult to select the most appropriate
maintenance or remedial measure that should be used. A
successful measure in one location is not necessarily
equally successful in another. Furthermore, maintenance
procedures should be customized based on the type of
insulator in use. Also, the selection of an optimal
maintenance interval can be difficult, as the risk for
flashovers needs to be balanced with the financial and
organizational pressures to better utilize field personnel
and resources.
Organizations such as the IEEE and Cigr have produced
guideline documents that describe specific maintenance
methods and their associated procedures, e.g., washing
Reduce outages due to contamination by applying
appropriate mitigation techniques
Select appropriate techniques to monitor
contamination and prioritize insulation washing
Obtain information on maintenance procedures
and inspection protocols
Select appropriate insulator design for
environment
procedures in detail. However, there are no documents
available that guide the utility engineer on how to analyze
the problem, determine its severity, or decide what course
of action to take.
Project Summary
During this project a guide will be developed to assist
utilities to address the issues surrounding the choice and
implementation of maintenance and remedial actions of
insulators exposed to contaminated environments. The
guide will consist of two components:
Written document that provides a review of the
maintenance and remedial measures as well as
procedures available. It will also provide an overview
of the available international guideline documents.
Applets (software routines to perform calculations
documented in the written document).
Draft outline of the written document includes:
Introduction
Need for this guide
How to use this guide
Fundamentals
Contamination flashover process
Measurement of the contamination severity
An overview of maintenance and remedial actions
Analyze and determine contamination severity
 Determine the problem Mitigation Technique Decision Making tool
Decide on an evaluation approach Video examples of discharge activity on different levels
Guidance to implement evaluation methods of contamination
Analyze measurement results
Selection and application maintenance and remedial TASK 3: WORKSHOP A workshop will be held where world
actions experts will introduce the user to the guide and how it can
Factors to consider when applying mitigation be implemented. Although a central workshop is planned,
techniques members may request onsite workshops.
Comparison between insulator maintenance
procedures Deliverables
Decision chart
The following deliverables will be provided to each
Available guideline documents
participant:
Scope of available documents
Availability of documents Guide for Maintenance & Remedial Actions on
Using the documents Contaminated Insulation
Bird contamination outages and remedial measures Applets (software routine) supporting the guide
Workshop on use of the guide and applets
TASK 1: DEVELOP WRITTEN DOCUMENT A draft of the
document will be prepared. This document will be based
on previous Electric Power Research Institute (EPRI) Price of Project
reports and other relevant published information to The cost of participation is between $20,000 and $25,000
provide a state of the art overview and guidance regarding per member. Either cofunding or Tailored Collaboration
maintenance and remedial measures for insulators in (TC) funding can be used, e.g., $20,000 of cofunding or
contaminated environments. The focus will be to provide a $10,000 TC plus $10,000 matching funds.
useful and practical tool for the members that will guide
them in their maintenance decisions and implementation. A minimum of three members are needed to start this
The members will have an opportunity to review the draft project, complete the guide, and to create a limited
document to provide their input so that it addresses their number of applets. With increased funding the remaining
specific needs. These comments will be incorporated into applets will be added and the number of workshops
the final version of the document. increased. The project may be delayed until contracts with
the minimum number of members are in place, or started
TASK 2: DEVELOPMENT OF APPLETS Software routines after informing the members of reduction in scope, e.g.,
that run through a browser window will be developed to removing or reducing the number of applets.
assist members with the implementation of the decision-
making processes outlined in the document. A draft list
Contact Information
of applets includes:
For more information, contact the EPRI Customer
Salt Deposit Density (SSD) & Non-Soluble Salt Deposit
Density (NSDD) Measurement & Calculation Tool Assistance Center at 800.313.3774 (askepri@epri.com).
ESDD & NSDD tracking tool
Technical Contact
Risk of flashover calculation as a function of
ESDD/NSDD Andrew Phillips at 704.717.6438, cell 704.953.4030
Risk of flashover calculation as a function of leakage (aphillip@epri.com).
current magnitude

1012043 May 2006

Electric Power Research Institute

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